Last month the European Commission promised that they would provide a response to the Stop Killing Games campaign that seeks to gain more protections around online game server shutdowns into law. That reply has now come in and, essentially, it’s not the result Stop Killing Games were after.
As detailed in a press release, the European Commission explained that “at this stage it cannot propose a legal obligation to keep video games playable after they stop being provided commercially. This is due, also, to existing intellectual property rights.” This doesn’t mean they’re not doing anything, though. The Commission noted two points in how they plan to “address players’ concerns.”
In the first instance, they will “initiate an exchange with the video game industry and consumer representatives with the aim to draw up an industry code of conduct on managing video games’ ‘end of life’.” In the second, they plan to “work with consumer organisations and authorities to raise awareness about the applicable rights that protect consumers, including on safeguards protecting the economic interests of consumers.”
Over on Dwitter, Stop Killing Games explained that “this decision was not unexpected,” but this doesn’t mean they won’t be doing anything either, as they also note “we were prepared.” Their current plan is to push forward with the European Parliament to add an amendment to the Digital Fairness Act with the same goal as before. For some context, the Digital Fairness Act is legislation that is currently in development that aims to tackle things like addictive design of apps and games, manipulative interface designs, and other issues.
Last month, a Californian bill backed by Stop Killing Games passed a State Assembly vote, which if put into place would mean that publishers must either provide full refunds or a playable version of the game in question if they were to shut down official servers. But this isn’t a surefire thing yet, with the main politician behind this bill admitting to how tough it will be to enforce.
